ESTIMATION OF CARBON STOCKS IN UNDERGROWTH OF THE KAPTAI NATIONAL PARK OF BANGLADESH

Abstract

Undergrowth is the most essential component in the forest areas and play a vital role to carbon sequestration. The present study was conducted on undergrowth in the Kaptai national park under Rangamati Hill Tracts district at South Forest Division of Bangladesh. The main objectives of the study were to estimate biomass and carbon of undergrowth in six forests areas of the Kaptai national park. The study was based on track selection, sampling collection and laboratory analysis. Tracks were selected using global positioning systems. The total number of tracks were 77 and each track had four plots of 1 m radius at north-south and east-west directions being 100 m apart from each other. A systematic sampling and destructive method were used for the estimation of undergrowth carbon. On an average, undergrowth biomass stock was 2.93 t ha-1 in six forests areas. The highest biomass was 4.36 t ha-1 in Gmelina arborea and the lowest was 1.53 t ha-1 in Lagerstroemia speciosa. The results revealed that undergrowth biomass was greatly influenced by species to species in the same regions and showed that Gmelina arborea > Swietenia macrophylla >Dipterocarpus turbinatus > Acacia auriculiformis > Tectona grandis > and Lagerstroemia speciosa respectively. The average carbon was 0.87 t ha-1 and the maximum carbon was 1.23 t ha-1 in Gmelina arborea forest and the lowest was 0.65 t ha-1 in Lagerstroemia speciosa forest. The findings of the results will be helpful to investigate the role of forest tree species in the improvement of undergrowth of tropical forest areas.